Anchored On Prudence
NTUC Income Among Strongest Insurers In Region
NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative Limited assures its policyholders and partners that the recent financial turmoil in the US and its exposure to Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG has not impacted its financial strength. NTUC Income's continued AA credit rating by Standard & Poor's makes it one of the strongest insurance companies in the region.

Don’t Worry!
NTUC Income Is Financially Sound
NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative Limited assures all parties that the company remains in a financially sound position, despite the recent turmoil in the financial markets. Its Standard & Poor's rating remains at AA, the strongest in the region, and it complies with MAS regulations in having sufficient assets to meet all our obligations to policyholders.

Seize The ADVANTAGE!
1,015 Companies Have Tapped On ADVANTAGE! Fund And More Are Expected To Follow Suit
Nothing is being spared in ongoing efforts by the National Trades Union Congress and its tripartite partners to enlighten companies on the advantages of the ADVANTAGE! Scheme which benefits companies, workers and the economy as a whole.

Less Strain, More Gain
Mature workers on the shop floor of Hitachi Chemicals (Singapore) Private Limited can expect less strain on their backs. They can also look forward to working with the comforts of adjustable back support as they scan printed circuit boards in the production line.

Let Not Age Be Bondage
Mr Lim Boon Heng, Minister-in-Charge of Ageing Issues and Chairman of the NTUC Social Enterprise Development Council, is a busy man. When he is not busy lending his ear and a hand to his constituents at Jurong GRC and carrying out other responsibilities, he is busy liberally planting the seeds of active ageing.

Wellness Of Purpose
Wellness and active ageing. This is where NTUC ElderCare Co-operative Limited is bringing its clients. The Silver Circle daycare centres at Jurong Central and Punggol South have adopted the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports’ Wellness Programme aimed at getting the elderly to keep healthy bodies through wholesome activities and healthy minds through social networking.

Cycling Down Memory Lane
The last time Madam Sally Yew (left of picture) rode on a bicycle was more than 40 years ago. Naturally, the retiree, 67, felt a little nervous getting back on two wheels after so many years. But once she was on it, it was like a trip down memory lane.

Choices Aplenty
AUPDRW Finds Ways To Help Members Move Up And On
How to help low-wage daily-rated workers have better jobs, better pay and live better lives. These are major issues that union leaders of the Amalgamated Union of Public Daily Rated Workers - themselves low-wage daily-rated workers - grapple with daily.

Never On A Sunday
SEEU Supports Company’s Flexi-Work Roster
Since SIA Engineering Company Limited started to provide maintenance support services seven days a week in 2006, all its employees have had to make adjustments to their private lives. Ask anyone and they will tell you: No more fixed rest day; don’t hope for a day-off on a Sunday.

Keeping The Faith
It was a stamp of approval for labour-management relations; a sign that things can only get better from here.

Being Small, Think Big
The Singapore Refining Company Employees’ Union (SRCEU) has an enviable record in adding some 283 rank and file workers to its membership. Of the approximate 600 employees at the Singapore Refining Company Private Limited, about 400 of them are SRCEU members, including these 283 workers.

UWEEI Keeps Growing
Surpassing expectations, more than $200,000 was raised at the United Workers of Electronic and Electrical Industries’ 27th Anniversary Dinner and Dance held at the Orchard Hotel on 30 August 2008.

SMOU Encourages Learning For Life
The Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union was applauded for contributing towards Lifelong Learning at the SMOU Bursary and Awards Presentation on 13 September 2008.

Practical + Innovative = Effective
Back in 2005, the Healthcare Services Employees’ Union leadership decided to do something to arrest the decline in membership. The union was known at that time as the Healthcare Corporation of Singapore Staff Union. A team was set up with the goal to increase membership. A campaign was launched and the union ended the year with a small net gain.

Leadership In Adversity
Last week, some new Industrial Relations Officers with the National Trades Union Congress-Administrative and Research Unit underwent a residential course at the National Community Leadership Institute organised by the IR Mentoring Department.

Stand Tall Among Giants
I attended the summer Olympic Games in Beijing last month. While I did not catch the opening ceremony, I did see the closing. Having experienced this first hand, I can say that sports are a great vehicle to unite communities and people towards a common vision.

eXplorerkid A Pro-Family Playground
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong put the nation’s focus back on the family at his National Day Rally.

Family Life: Don’t Wait Too Long
Some of us see marriage and procreation as private matters and choices that should be left to the individuals. Still others may be annoyed by the paternalistic attitude of the Government to encourage us to marry and start a family.

Serious Message Of Love
A strong and loving relationship of a married couple is the cornerstone of a happy family.

New IROs Get Shaped Up
Twenty one “front-line troops” of the National Trades Union Congress learnt the ropes of industrial relations at a course held from 15-19 September 2008 at the National Community Leadership Institute along the long and winding South Buona Vista Road. The boot camp, organised by NTUC’s Industrial Relations Mentoring Department, serves to train and immerse newly recruited Industrial Relations Officers of less than a year’s standing quickly into IR work.

CET For Better Jobs And Opportunities
Every year, more than 20,000 workers benefit from the various training programmes under the national Continuing Education and Training mansterplan. In his address at the opening of the e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) in February this year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that the number will be increased to 80,000 eventually.

Towards Top Grade Service In Healthcare
Patients are enjoying more and better quality services at 14 healthcare institutions as the latter have been making a concerted effort to improve the standards of patient care service over the years.

Co-ops Brought Up To Speed
The changing face of cooperatives in Singapore over the years has brought about changes in the way they are to be run. Under a Bill passed in Parliament on 16 September 2008, legislation governing the cooperative sector in Singapore will be streamlined for greater accountability, governance and risk-focussed regulatory regime.

CPF Loosens Up For Top-Ups And Study
The Central Provident Fund (Amendment) Bill that was passed by Parliament on 16 September 2008 has given Singaporeans more leeway to help themselves and others better deal with the future.

New Blood For NTUC Media
New able hands have been brought on deck to help NTUC Media Co-operative Limited steer alongside the mothership Labour Movement’s journey towards LM2011 and beyond. This is because four out of seven Directors, including the Chairman, retired from the Board of Directors at NTUC Media’s 19th Annual General Meeting on 12 September 2008 held at NTUC Centre.

5 Plus 5 Makes A Perfect 10
NTUC Foodfare extends 5% discount for elderly, another 5% if he is union member
Madam Susie Chua, 62, takes a five-minute walk from her flat in Ang Mo Kio three times a week. Her destination – a bright, air-conditioned corner on the third floor of Ang Mo Kio Hub - the NTUC Foodfare food court. This is her favourite place for meals on the days that she does not cook.

Fair Adjustment
Four in 10 commuters will not experience any increase or may even pay less in their weekly public transport expenditure when the public transport fare adjustment is implemented next month.

Nurturing The Blooming Industry
Green Thumbs 2008 had fresh treats for both workers and businesses in Singapore’s landscape industry.

Where A Door Closes, A Window Opens
PCP Gives Mature PMETs Hope For Employment
A window of hope in the form of the Professionals Conversion Programme in Logistics was opened for Madam Haffsah Md Dali after the door of employment was shut on her.

The Child In A Teacher
Molecular structures and cells are not the only elements that set the 34-year old Science teacher’s mind in action.

Pledging For The Future
It was a momentous occasion in more ways than one at the launch of the Union Of Power And Gas Employees’ Endowment Fund held on 9 September 2008 at Downtown East.

Another Good Year
Temasek Thanks Union Leaders And Workers
DBS, MediaCorp, SingTel, NOL, PSA, Singapore Airlines, SMRT, CapitaLand, Keppel Corporation, Sembcorp, ST Engineering, PowerSeraya, Senoko, Singapore Power, Wildlife Reserves Singapore (Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, Jurong Bird Park)…

FDAWU Raises $124,000 For Training And Education
They trooped down to Keppel Club and played a round of golf to raise funds for the Food, Drinks and Allied Workers’ Union. About 100 union leaders, FDAWU’s management partners and invited guests got down to business on the golf greens for the FDAWU Fundraising Golf Tournament 2008, held on 3 September 2008.

Fund For Early Childhood Development
To further support pro-family initiatives, NTUC Childcare Co-operative Limited and the Chinese Development Assistance Council jointly set up a $200,000 CDAC Workfare-Bright Horizons Fund.

UWEEI Strives For Members’ Good
The United Workers of Electronic and Electrical Industries produced a sterling report card at their Ordinary Convention of Delegates held on 27 August 2008 at NTUC Centre that was attended by 179 delegates.

FDAWU On The Up
Against the backdrop of a robust economy and a tight labour market, members of the Food, Drinks and Allied Workers’ Union have benefited from good employment opportunities and better wages in the three years following the union’s Triennial Delegates’ Conference in September 2005.

KEU To Step Up Safety
Keppel Employees’ Union puts improving safety levels as one of the top on its agenda. Workers at the shipyards have increasing worries on safety standards. The recent spade of 286 shipyard accidents in the first half of this year has aggravated their concerns.

Turn A Blind Eye And Someone May Die
Three months. Nine lives. All lost in shipyards. Could those accidents have been prevented?

FairPrice Unleashes A New
New Logo, Same Fair Prices
Act One: 22 July 1973. Stage: Block 192 Toa Payoh Lorong 4. Against a backdrop of rising oil and food prices, the protagonists, the Labour Movement and Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, summoned a hitherto unknown knight in shining armour, NTUC Welcome Consumers’ Co-operative Limited Supermarket, to the rescue.

Tailor-Made For Better Employability
‘U Train, U Gain Better Paying Jobs’
A new training initiative, “U Train U Gain”, launched by the National Trades Union Congress’ Unit for Contract and Casual Workers will benefit the 7,200 UCCW members and the more than 183,700 contract and casual workers in Singapore.

Female Power In The Mail Service
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Rally speech called on more employers to promote work-life harmony initiatives and adopt flexible work practices. There are a few companies who have put such practices in place, even before his call. Singapore Post Limited is one such example.

The Labour Movement Says ‘I Do’ To Enhanced Package
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong put the problem squarely when he talked about the dire consequences of the falling birth rate at his National Day Rally. Coupled with a rapidly ageing population, the dismal birth rate has long-term impacts on the economy and the society at large. The roll out of the Enhanced Marriage and Parenthood Package is aimed at getting more Singaporeans to get hitched and start a family.